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Social Exclusion and Violence in Latin America and the Caribbean

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Social Exclusion and Violence in Latin America and the Caribbean A Service of Leibniz-Informationszentrum econstor Wirtschaft Leibniz Information Centre Make Your Publications Visible. zbw for Economics Berkman, Heather Working Paper Social exclusion and violence in Latin America and the Caribbean Working Paper, No. 613 Provided in Cooperation with: Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Washington, DC Suggested Citation: Berkman, Heather (2007) : Social exclusion and violence in Latin America and the Caribbean, Working Paper, No. 613, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department, Washington, DC This Version is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/51438 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. personal and scholarly purposes. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle You are not to copy documents for public or commercial Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich purposes, to exhibit the documents publicly, to make them machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. publicly available on the internet, or to distribute or otherwise use the documents in public. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, If the documents have been made available under an Open gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. www.econstor.eu Inter-American Development Bank Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID) Research Department Departamento de Investigación Working Paper #613 Social Exclusion and Violence in Latin America and the Caribbean by Heather Berkman Inter-American Development Bank October 2007 Cataloging-in-Publication data provided by the Inter-American Development Bank Felipe Herrera Library Berkman, Heather. Social exclusion and violence in Latin America and the Caribbean / by Heather Berkman. p. cm. (Research Department Working paper series ; 613) Includes bibliographical references. 1. Marginality, Social—Latin America. 2. Violence—Latin America. 3. Youth and violence— Latin America. I. Inter-American Development Bank. Research Dept. II. Title. III. Series. HN110.5.Z9 B54 2007 305.56098 B54---dc22 ©2007 Inter-American Development Bank 1300 New York Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20577 The views and interpretations in this document are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Inter-American Development Bank, or to any individual acting on its behalf. This paper may be freely reproduced provided credit is given to the Research Department, Inter- American Development Bank. The Research Department (RES) produces a quarterly newsletter, IDEA (Ideas for Development in the Americas), as well as working papers and books on diverse economic issues. To obtain a complete list of RES publications, and read or download them please visit our web site at: http://www.iadb.org/res. 2 Abstract1 This paper examines how social exclusion contributes to violence in communities throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Residents in socially excluded communities cannot depend on those institutions designed to protect them, and violence becomes an instrument to achieve certain outcomes, such as justice, security, and economic gain. When conventional methods of obtaining and working for increased social status, higher income, and wider influence are limited, as they often are in marginalized areas, some feel compelled to resort to violent acts. This paper discusses how social exclusion and violence interact in a vicious circle that leaves the socially excluded in a very hostile social environment where the borders between legal and illegal, legitimate and illegitimate are often fuzzy and uncertain. In this environment violence is used by a minority to acquire justice, security, authority and economic gain. The use of violence by this minority, however, affect the lives of the majority of excluded people that do not resort to violence. As youths are particularly vulnerable to this issue, this paper also examines the relationship between violence and the plight of Latin American youth gangs and street children. 1 This paper reflects the opinions of the author and not necessarily those of the Inter-American Development Bank. The author expresses gratitude to Gustavo Márquez Mosconi, Gustavo Beliz and Andrew Morrison for extremely helpful guidance throughout the development of this paper, and to Sebastián Calónico for help with translations. 3 “This [violence and robbery] cannot be, we do not respect each other anymore.” 2 “There used to be clear rules: no one would steal in the shantytown. If and when they stole, they would do it outside the shantytown. Now, they rob you in the shantytown and everywhere.”3 1. Introduction The past few decades in Latin America and the Caribbean have witnessed a series of economic, social and political transitions that have changed the patterns of inclusion and exclusion. Movements within the region, including migration from rural areas, related rapid urbanization, institutional change, and the characteristics of modern sector growth reinforce the historical reliance of many on informal mechanisms and transactions for survival. The judicial and law enforcement systems have weakly adapted to new challenges and continue to leave large segments of society without adequate access to justice and economic and physical security. As Figure 1 shows, regional rates of homicide in some Latin American and Caribbean countries reach levels typically only seen in areas ravaged by war. Yet such battles are taking place within socially excluded communities in Latin America, fought not by soldiers and guerillas, but by a minority that uses violence to fulfill their needs. Within such communities, residents cannot depend on those institutions designed to protect them, and violence becomes an instrument to achieve certain outcomes, such as justice, security, and economic gain through means that disrupt the life of the community. Where justice is acquired through revenge, security through violent assertion of authority, and economic gain through robbing, mugging, and intimidation, the vast majority of law-abiding residents are left without options. In such communities, people have come to recognize the person next door not as a neighbor, the policeman not as a protector, the community leader not as a consensus-builder, but as a potential threat. Many studies ranging from anthropological field work in the marginalized areas of shantytowns, favelas, barrios and villas (Caldeira, 2000; Márquez, 1999; Goldstein 2003), to advanced geo-spatial studies that record incidences of violence (Beato, 2002; Consejo de Seguridad, 2006), report that homicide rates are much higher in these neighborhoods than in middle- and upper-class neighborhoods. Violence is common not only on neighborhood streets, but also in other areas where the working classes spend their everyday lives, including the workplace or on public transportation (Caldeira, 2000). 2 Auyero (2000). 4 Social exclusion is a contributing factor to violent outcomes, regardless of whether violence takes place in a developed Western European country or in a burgeoning Central American state. Those who resort to violent acts most often lack access to legitimate economic opportunities and the personal or social contacts required to obtain many of the services and resources available to mainstream society. When conventional methods of obtaining and working for increased social status, higher income, and wider influence are limited, as they often are in marginalized areas, some feel compelled to resort to what the mainstream considers illegitimate means, including violent acts (Reiss and Roth, 1993). Furthermore, the weaknesses and failures on the part of judicial systems and security forces in much of Latin America has left many in socially excluded communities in a complex situation. Either residents accept the lack of justice and security and suffer at the mercy of those who step forward, or they take matters into their own hands. Residents of socially excluded communities are well aware of the lack of options available to them and the consequences of lacking the money to pay off corrupt police and judges, the influence to avoid extortion, or the confidence to decline the invitation to join a gang. For those with few or no prospects for economic advancement, profitable opportunities to be gained through illicit and violent means serve as a deadly magnet. As state institutions fail to provide security and justice, others—such as violent community leaders, gangs, or corrupt police—may step in to mete out alternative forms of justice and revenge. The issues of security, authority, justice, identity, and economics are tangible in the violent acts used to secure them in socially excluded areas, beyond the influence of state institutions and mainstream paradigms of conflict resolution. The consequences of such violence are severe and further sap scarce resources from Latin American and Caribbean countries that already face serious challenges in economic development and modernization of democratic institutions. Violence eats away at the delicate social fabric that holds communities together through difficult economic, social and political periods
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